NOTE TO SELF
There’s a book on the shelf,
One I’ve read before.
I have turned the pages
And have read every word.
So why this note to self
As I sit on the floor?
Yes, time passes, one ages.
What has my mind not heard?
“Do you not remember the times
When there were always rhymes,
When I promised to stay
Whenever you did pray?”
“You asked for more than a word,
Ones you had never before heard.
And soon there was a book on the shelf.
You must again, my son, remind yourself.”
“How many have read your words?
How many hearts have been stirred?
There was a reason
For that season.”
“Remember you prayed
And together we stayed.”
7/28/2021, tcarter
Reflection: I have been wanting to write more often. Again I had the first two lines as I walked around the house, then I sat down and prayed. And again I was surprised by the direction it took. The first two lines came from thinking about the following poem from Living In God’s Rhyme, pg. 153. And it was also inspired by the zoom meeting I participated in today with my publisher, Lettra Press, and radio host Kate Delaney and three other authors. We discussed how to get more of you and your friends and co-workers and strangers to read our books. We have an amazing God!
#livingingodsrhymepodcast
THE BOOK ON THE SHELF
I asked the Lord, what do I write
He replied, write of yourself
Take the book of your life off the shelf
Open you heart and turn on the light
So, here I am, where have I misplaced that book
The many nooks and crannies where I have looked
Were empty, as if they had been visited by a crook
When did I last use it, that memory someone took
I prayed, Lord, show me what I have missed
At which he led me through a fine and foggy mist
To the place on a shelf
Where I found myself.
Sometimes I close the cover to my life
And then I find that every day is a fight
As I fail to follow the light he has shining on me
A light that does reflect from him so that I can see
I have these days when I lose my way
When the world around me tears at my heart
When the world around me leads me astray
When I awake sleepy eyed at the day’s new start
Maybe it was a word, a thought, a slight I did perceive
Something I was unprepared that day to receive
Maybe it was just me
Maybe I just didn’t see
The book on the shelf is where I was found
The book where the story of my life is bound
Where God placed me to keep me safe
As the world around me runs its race
Sometimes I get off track in the race I run
When I confuse God’s blessings with earthly fun
When I get caught in life’s struggles before the day is done
When I distract myself from the life I have with God’s Son
My story is one of God’s love for me
A story of his infinite grace in my life
His forgiving of my many wanderings
A story of my faith in God and his in me
Reflection on The Book on the Shelf
There is no punctuation when the day is a run on sentence
A sentence without bars, but one that can easily become a prison
Take an old book off the shelf and read it again. Find the memories.